South Carolina & African Americans

South Carolina is a state in the Southeastern United States. African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans or Afro-Americans, and formerly as American Negroes) are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa.5.0/5

I think you will be a cool president! I'm one of a few African Americans here in South Carolina that supports you. It's lonely at times.

07 Dec 2016 08:11

Scarce justice for victims of police killings -- of Palestinians in the WB and African Americans in the US.

11 Sep 2016 05:04

The deadliest hate crime against African Americans in the past 75 years was LAST YEAR in Charleston, South Carolina. . Last…

02 Oct 2015 20:40

Oregon is more serious than South Carolina. Does Obama visit Roseburg? But we don't want to offend the good black African Americans. So the

02 Jan 2015 02:47

Jordan Young (1852-1921), born in South Carolina Parents: father Hiram Young Sr. (1814- ) mother Adelade (1822-1905) Wife: Louisa Preston Young (1854 - ) Children: John A., William, Maria, Cornelia Young Wysinger, Mary Ellen Young Abernathy, Ben, Viola, Clarence E. Young Family Reunion 2008 "Celebrating History" By: Amanda Perez (KFSN-TV, channel 30, Fresno, CA) One of the valley's first African American farming families is reuniting in Fowler this weekend for the family's [2008] 30th reunion. And this year, the Young's are also celebrating another special milestone. Thelma Wilson Young turned 100 years old this month. "I'm still moving. I'm moving kinda slow, you can see I'm in a wheelchair here." said Wilson Young. Wilson Young graduated from Fowler High School back in 1927. Her father [Simeon] was one of three brothers who moved to Fowler from South Carolina back in 1888, and they became some of the first African Americans to own farming land in the state. Wilson young's cousin, Patrick, was one of ...

20 Nov 2014 08:50

*Black History FACT* Emancipated African Americans began influencing South Carolina politics when citizens of the state endorsed their constitutional convention and selected state delegates on this date in 1867. Records show that 66,418 African Americans and 2,350 whites voted for the convention. Over time the newly enfranchised voters were able to send so many African American representatives to the state assembly that they outnumbered the white representatives. Many of the elected legislators worked to rewrite the state constitution and passed laws ensuring aid to public education and Civil Rights. SiriusXM Radio

Would any of my more liberal friends care to explain that IF Republicans are engaged in a "War on Women" and "don't want African Americans", then WHY is the 1st female senator from West Virginia a woman and the 1st African American Senator from South Carolina a Republican? Only REAL answers to these questions, please, as I am respectful of your right to be a Democrat, please respect my right to be a card-carrying Republican and let's keep it civil.

19 Oct 2014 13:27

It's okay for Jewish people to chant "Lest We Forget" but African Americans are not supposed to remind the world of crimes against our great-great-great-great-grand parents? Look for social justice and stop being a pawn. By the way, I knew my Great Grandparents and they told me enough about slavery. I am born in Ohio and I have been on The Underground Railroad. I went to South Carolina where my family was run out by brutal Europeans who stole the Native Indigenous homes. So screw anybody who thinks that MY Ancestors have no one to blame for being displaced and dispossessed.

Today in OUR Story - September 3 * "1783 - Richard Allen, founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, purchases his freedom with his earnings as a self-employed teamster. 1838 - Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, disguised as a sailor, escapes from slavery in Baltimore, Maryland to New Bedford, Massachusetts via New York City. He will take the name Douglass, after the hero of Sir Walter Scott's poem "Lady of the Lake". 1865 - The Union Army commander in South Carolina orders the Freedmen's Bureau personnel to stop seizing land. 1868 - Henry McNeal Turner delivers a speech before the Georgia legislature defending African Americans' rights to hold state office. The lower house of the Georgia legislature, rules that African Americans were ineligible to hold office, and expels twenty-eight representatives. Ten days later the senate expels three African Americans. Congress will refuse to re-admit the state to the Union until the legislature seats the African American representatives. 1891 - John St . ...

04 Aug 2014 13:40

Today In Black History HBD President Barack Hussein Obama II • August 4, 1810 Robert Purvis, abolitionist, was born in Charleston, South Carolina. Although Purvis and his brothers were three-quarters European by ancestry and inherited considerable wealth from their native English father, they chose to identify with the Black community and use their education and wealth to support the abolition of slavery and educational projects for the advancement of African Americans. In 1833, Purvis helped abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison establish the American Anti-Slavery Society and from 1845 to 1850 served as president of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society. By his account, Purvis estimated that from 1831 to 1861 he helped one enslaved person per day escape to the North. In 1883, Purvis co-edited “The History of the Underground Railroad in Chester and Neighboring Counties of Pennsylvania. Purvis died April 15, 1898. His biography, “But One Race: The Life of Robert Purvis,” was published in 2007. • Au ...

19 Jun 2014 02:20

Summerton, South Carolina was not the only place dealing with discrimination in school bus transportation. African American Floridians also faced segregated schools and school buses. Whereas white children took one bus to get to school, African Americans would take as many as three different buses to arrive at the same place. The first eight students to integrate Leon County Schools shared their experiences in the exhibit "They Led the Way". Melodee Thompson, one of the first eight, went to Kate Sullivan Elementary School in 1963. In order to get there, she had to travel by bus to Lincoln High School with her sister and then ride another bus with the three black High School students going to Leon. After they were dropped off, the driver took her alone the last few blocks to Kate Sullivan. Brown vs. Board of Education brought these issues to light not only in South Carolina, but all over the United States.

15 Jun 2014 18:32

June 15, 1755-John Marrant, one of the first African American preachers and missionaries, was born in New York City but raised in Charleston, South Carolina. During the Revolutionary War, the British forced him into the navy where he served for seven years. In 1782, Marrant began training as a Methodist minister and was ordained in 1785. That year, he was sent to Nova Scotia to minister to several thousand African Americans who had fled north during the Revolutionary War. In 1788, Marrant became the chaplain of the Prince Hall Grand Lodge Free and Accepted Masons in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1790, Marrant traveled to London, England where he died April 15, 1791. He published his memoir, “A Narrative of the Lord’s Wonderful Dealings with John Marrant, A Black,” in 1785. His memoir was so popular that it was reprinted more than 17 times. A sermon he delivered in 1789 and his journal from 1785 to 1790 were also published.

05 Jun 2014 02:47

Robert Franklin Williams (1925-1996) was an African-American leader who became famous for advocating “armed self-defense” and inspiring groups such as the Black Panthers. Born in Monroe, North Carolina, in Union County on the South Carolina border, Williams worked in Detroit in the 1940s and served in the Marine Corps. Returning to Monroe, Williams helped revive the Union County chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Williams recruited members who did not fit the generally middle-class mold of the NAACP.Like Civil Rights activists throughout the South, Williams and the members of his chapter challenged Jim Crow segregation. For instance, the public swimming pool was operated on a whites-only basis, and Williams’s NAACP chapter organized demonstrations in protest. Williams also formed an African American self-defense association under the auspices of the National Rifle Association, and he claimed credit for resisting the local Ku Klux Klan. In his newslett ...

29 May 2014 00:13

For centuries the Igbo have been known for their intelligence, courage, audacity, high sense of justice, unalloyed commitment to freedom and liberty, outspokenness, industry, entrepreneurial ability. They demonstrated these qualities all over the world. When they were shipped as slaves to South Carolina and Georgia in the United Stated some of them walked off the ship, straight into the Atlantic Ocean and drowned rather than be made slaves. That incident is still celebrated in South Carolina as Igbo Landing. In Virginia , USA the revolt of Igbo slaves was legendary. They will never go down without a fierce fight. Booker T. Washington, Paul Robeson, and numerous other revolutionary and powerful African Americans were Igbo. In fact it is estimated that at least 60% of the descendants of African Slaves in the United States is of Igbo ancestry. Slave owners expressly requested for Igbo slaves because of their industry and resilience. Oludaa Ikwuano (Gustavus Vassa) is Igbo. While being transported to the New ...

19 Mar 2014 16:44

Today in OUR Story - March 18 * "1895 - 200 African Americans leave Savannah, Georgia for Liberia. 1901 - William Henry Johnson is born. The Florence, South Carolina native will leave his home for New York and Europe, where he will develop a deliberate and controversial primitive painting style. Among his more famous works will be "Chain Gang," "Calvary," and "Descent from the Cross." 1939 - Charley Pride is born in Sledge, Mississippi. Intent on a career in baseball, he will begin his country music career in 1960, singing between innings at a company-sponsored baseball game where he is a player. A recording contract will follow in 1964 and a debut with the "Grand Ole Opry" in 1967. Pride will become the first African American to become a successful country music star. His awards will include a 1972 Grammy. 1941 - Wilson Pickett is born in Prattville, Alabama. He will become Rhythm & Blues singer and will begin his career as the lead tenor with The Falcons ("I Found a Love" - 1962). He will become a ...

15 Mar 2014 16:12

Martin Robison Delany (May 6, 1812 – January 24, 1885) was an African-American abolitionist, journalist, physician, and writer, arguably the first proponent of black nationalism; Martin Delany is considered to be the grandfather of Black nationalism. He was also one of the first three African Americans admitted to Harvard Medical School. Trained as an assistant and a physician, he treated patients during the cholera epidemics of 1833 and 1854 in Pittsburgh, when many doctors and residents fled the city. Active in recruiting blacks for the United States Colored Troops, he was commissioned as a major, the first African-American field officer in the United States Army during the American Civil War. After the Civil War, he worked for the Freedmen's Bureau in the South, settling in South Carolina, where he became politically active. He ran unsuccessfully for Lieutenant Governor and was appointed a Trial Judge. Later he switched his party loyalty and worked for the campaign of Democrat Wade Hampton III, who w ...

14 Feb 2014 21:00

Urban Souls Dance Company presents Exodus: A Black History Concert tomorrow at 8pm at Cullen Performance Hall. Exodus highlights the mass migration of African Americans from South Carolina to Liberia in 1878. This work speaks to the idea of people of color having a soul deep connection to Africa.

11 Feb 2014 17:57

THE CLAFLIN UNIVERSITY PSYCHOLOGY CLUB IS PROUD TO BRING TO YOU Black History Month FAMOUS African American PSYCHOLOGISTS TRIVIA EACH WEEK DURING FEBRUARY The first correct response emailed to Dr. Bagasra at abagasrawill receive a $25 gift card. Wnners will be announced at the end of each week. This week's trivia question: Born in Greenwood, South Carolina in 1911, this early Black Psychologist studied intelligence in the African American population and was a pioneer for African Americans in Clinical Psychology. A veteran of World War II, he earned his PhD at Northwestern and became the first African American chief psychologist for the Veterans Administration. WHO AM I?

08 Feb 2014 08:21

Day 8 of (28) Omega Psi Phi Black History Pioneers to the American experience. Dr. Charles Richard Drew; International Scholar, Professor, Civil Rights Activist, Chief Surgeon and Inventor and Innovator of the Blood Bank. Charles Richard Drew was born on June 3, 1904 in Washington, D.C. He was an African-American physician who developed ways to process and store blood plasma in "blood banks." He directed the blood plasma programs of the United States and Great Britain in World War II, but resigned after a ruling that the blood of African Americans would be segregated. A pioneering African-American medical researcher, Dr. Charles R. Drew made some groundbreaking discoveries in the storage and processing of blood for transfusions. He also managed two of the largest blood banks during World War II. Drew grew up in Washington, D.C., as the oldest son of a carpet layer. In his youth, Drew showed great athletic talent. He won several medals for swimming in his elementary years, and later branched out to footbal ...

04 Feb 2014 15:07

Black History in AUGUSTA, GA. African Americans in Augusta Augusta's racial makeup has long been largely African American. Its African American citizens have contributed greatly to the rich tapestry of the city's history. A number of listings in the National Register of Historic Places reflect the role of African Americans. Georgia initially banned slavery during earliest colonial times, but eventually the Trustees allowed it, acquiescing to pressure from colonists who saw slavery providing economic benefit to their neighbors across the Savannah River in South Carolina. Remote Augusta worked gangs of enslaved Africans brought over from Carolina even before it was legal to do so. Production of cotton required intensive labor to grow and pick, as well as to prepare to sell and send to market. Cotton’s potential for making high profits accelerated the desire of southern planters to own more slaves in order to grow more cotton, and slavery grew ever more prevalent after invention of the cotton gin in 179 .. ...

03 Feb 2014 22:50

PLEASE READ ALL DEMOCRATS BEFORE U VOTE The sixties. The New Deal Coalition began to fracture as more Democratic leaders voiced support for Civil Rights, upsetting the party's traditional base of conservative Southern Democrats and Catholics in Northern cities. After Harry Truman's platform gave strong support to Civil Rights and anti-segregation laws during the 1948 Democratic National Convention, many Southern Democratic delegates decided to split from the Party and formed the "Dixiecrats," led by South Carolina governor Strom Thurmond (who, as a Senator, would later join the Republican Party). Over the next few years, many conservative Democrats in the "Solid South" drifted away from the party. On the other hand, African Americans, who had traditionally given strong support to the Republican Party since its inception as the "anti-slavery party," continued to shift to the Democratic Party due to its New Deal economic opportunities and support for Civil Rights—largely due to New Deal relief programs, p ...

03 Feb 2014 17:46

I'm going to do more research on this but in the meantime, take a look at this: What Was America’s First Black Town? by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. | Originally posted on The Root As the nation turns its attention to the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, it’s worth noting that decades before the United States was even formed, African Americans lived free in a town of their own — at least for a while. Sometime between March and November of 1738, Spanish settlers in Florida formed a town named Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose, two miles to the north of St. Augustine. Initially, it consisted of 38 men, all fugitive slaves, “most of them married,” who had fled to Florida for sanctuary and freedom from enslavement in the Carolinas and Georgia. It came to be known as Fort Mose. The enclave was the first line of defense between the Spanish settlers in Florida and their enemies, the English colonists to the north in Carolina (which did not officially split into North and South Carolina u ...

03 Feb 2014 15:00

African American History: Timeline: 1700 - 1800 1770—Crispus Attucks, an escaped slave, becomes the first Colonial resident to die for American independence when he is killed by the British in the Boston Massacre. 1772—On June 22, Lord Chief Mansfield rules in the James Somerset case that an enslaved person brought to England becomes free and cannot be returned to slavery, laying the legal basis for the freeing of England’s 15,000 slaves. 1773—Phillis Wheatley publishes a book of poetry. The Silver Bluff Baptist Church, the oldest continuously operating black church, is founded in Silver Bluff, South Carolina near Savannah, Georgia. 1774—A group of blacks petition the Massachusetts General Court (legislature) insisting they too have a natural right to their freedom. 1775-1781—The American War of Independence. Approximately 450,000 enslaved Africans comprise 20% of the population of the colonies at the time of the Declaration of Independence. 1775—African Americans participate on the Patriot ...

31 Jan 2014 01:42

* Today in Black History - January 29 * 1837 - Aleksandr Sereyevich Pushkin, a Russian of African ancestry who is considered the "Shakespeare of Russian Literature," joins the ancestors after being killed in a duel. Technically one-eighth African or an octoroon, Pushkin was by all accounts Negroid in his appearance. His verse novel "Eugene Onegin" and other works are considered classics of Russian Literature and inspiration for later great Russian writers such as Gogol, Dostoyevski, and Tolstoy. 1850 - Henry Clay introduced in the Senate a compromise bill on slavery which included the admission of California into the Union as a free state. 1872 - Francis L. Cardoza is elected State Treasurer of South Carolina. 1908 - Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, founded at Cornell University in 1906, is incorporated in the state of New York. 1913 - Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, founded at Howard University in 1908, is incorporated in Washington, DC. 1913 - African Americans celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Emancipat ...

06 Jan 2014 18:50

FB friends and family. The history of Africans bought to America as slaves (thus, African Americans) story (resulting in HIS-tory) will begin next month, February! Last year, Farmer's Almanac reported that we would have a very cold winter, unlike any winter seen in a very long time. I became familiar with Farmer's Almanac during my visits to my grandmother's home, as a child in South Carolina. The almanac was among other books she kept. Upon reading the his-tory of Farmer's Almanac, I discovered that Benjamin Banneker (African American male) is credited with the "Farmer's Almanac". Banneker sent a letter to Thomas Jefferson (secretary of state at the time) appealing to the CHRISTIAN in Jefferson to do the right thing for African Americans. Below is part of the letter sent to Thomas Jefferson: On August 19 1791, Banneker sent a copy of his first almanac to secretary of state Thomas Jefferson. In an enclosed letter, he questioned the slaveholder's sincerity as a "friend to liberty." He urged Jef ...

12 Oct 2013 15:21

Remembering Essie Mae Washington-Williams born on 12 October 1925 in Edgefield, SC. She was an American writer, teacher and the oldest child of Strom Thurmond, Governor of South Carolina and longtime United States Senator. She was born to Carrie Butler, a 16-year-old black girl who worked as a household servant for Thurmond's parents, and Thurmond, then 22 and unmarried. Washington-Williams graduated from college, earned a master's degree, married and had a family, and had a 30-year professional career. Washington-Williams did not reveal her biological father's identity until she was 78 years old, after Thurmond's death in 2003. He had paid for her and her children's college educations and took an interest in her and her family all his life. In 2004 she joined the United Daughters of the Confederacy through Thurmond's ancestral lines. She encouraged other African Americans to do the same, to enlarge the lineage societies' sense of history. In 2005, she published her autobiography, which was nominated for ...

05 Oct 2013 02:31

Dr. Chancellor Williams, Son of a slave, who kept asking why and went out and found answers. Why isn't he known by more people? Williams was born on December 22, 1893, in Bennettsville, South Carolina, as the last of five children; his father was a former slave, while his mother was a cook, nurse, and evangelist. His innate curiosity concerning the realities of racial inequality and cultural struggles, particularly those which involved African Americans, began as early as his fifth-grade year. Years later, he was quoted in an early interview as saying: "I was very sensitive about the position of black people in the town... I wanted to know how you explain this great difference. How is it that we were in such low circumstances as compared to the whites? And when they answered 'slavery' as the explanation, then I wanted to know where we came from." He moved with his family to Washington, DC in the early 20th century. His first wife, Dorothy Ann Williams, died in 1925, leaving him a widower with five child . ...

10 Jul 2013 13:28

* Today in Black History - July 10 * 1775 - General Horatio Gates, George Washington's adjutant general issues an order excluding African Americans from serving in the Continental Army. 1875 - Mary McLeod Bethune is born in Mayesville, South Carolina. She will become a noted educator and founder of Daytona Normal and Industrial Institute in Daytona Beach, Florida in 1904 (now Bethune-Cookman College). In 1935, she will also found the National Council of *** Women. She will join the ancestors on May 18, 1955. 1927 - David Norman Dinkins is born in Trenton, New Jersey. He will move as a child to Harlem. He will serve as a marine during World War II and will attend and graduate from Howard University after the war. He will receive his law degree from Brooklyn Law School in 1956. He was in private practice until 1975, even though he was active in politics and held some office. He began full time elective office in New York City that year and held the offices of City Clerk and Manhattan Borough President. In . ...

06 Jul 2013 16:08

Today in Our Story - July 6 * "1853 - A National Black convention meets in Rochester, New York, with 140 delegates from nine states. James W.C. Pennington of New York is elected president of this meeting, generally considered the largest and most representative of the early African American conventions. 1854 - The Republican Party is organized to oppose the extension of slavery. 1868 - Eighty-five African Americans and 70 white representatives meet in Columbia, South Carolina, at the opening of the state's General Assembly. It is the first and last U.S. legislature with an African American majority. 1869 - African American candidate for Lt. Governor of Virginia, Dr. J.H. Harris, is defeated by a vote of 120,068 to 99,600. 1931 - Deloreese Patricia Early is born in Detroit, Michigan. Shewill become a singer known as Della Reese. As a teen-ager, she will tour with gospel great Mahalia Jackson and, at the age of 18, will form the Meditation Singers and become the first performer to take gospel music to t ...

04 Jul 2013 15:33

MARINATE ON THE LAST SENTENCE. By Kevin Alexander Gray: "On July 2, 1776, the “anti-slavery clause” was removed from the Declaration of Independence at the insistence of Edward Rutledge, delegate from South Carolina. Rutledge threatened that South Carolina would fight for King George against her sister colonies. He asserted that he had “the ardent support of pro-slavery elements in North Carolina and Georgia as well as of certain northern merchants reluctant to condemn a shipping trade largely in their own bloodstained hands.” Fearful of postponing the American Revolution, opponents of slavery, who were in the clear majority, made a “compromise.” Thus, July 4, 1776, marks for African Americans not Independence Day but the moment when their ancestors’ enslavement became fixed by law as well as custom in the new nation."

03 Jul 2013 14:24

* Today in Black History - July 2 * 1777 - Vermont, not one of the original 13 states, becomes the first U.S. territory to abolish slavery. 1822 - Denmark Vesey, slave freedom fighter, and 5 aides are hanged in Blake's Landing, Charleston, South Carolina. 1908 - Thurgood Marshall is born in Baltimore, Maryland. He will have the most distinguished legal career of any African American as the NAACP's national counsel, director-counsel of the organization's Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and leader of some of the most important legal challenges for African Americans' constitutional rights, including "Brown v. Board of Education" in 1954. In addition to sitting as a circuit judge for the Second Circuit, Marshall will be named U.S. Solicitor General in 1965 and associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1967, where he will serve for 24 years. 1925 - Patrice Lumumba, revolutionary and first prime minister of the Republic of the Congo, is born in Stanleyville, Belgian Congo. 1927 - George Fisher is born ...

26 Jun 2013 18:16

Obama Administration Suing BMW and Dollar General For Racism 06/25/13 Ridiculous claim. Dollar General was doing their due diligence prior to hiring candidates -- they ran background checks. Apparently, the background checks were weeding out too many African Americans and that has the Obama administration (Equal Employment Opportunity Corp) crying foul. They think it is racist. The Obama administration is suing Dollar General and a BMW facility in South Carolina for the alleged unfair use of criminal background checks for job applicants, months after warning companies about how such screenings can discriminate against African Americas. The suits were filed June 11 by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which last year issued new guidelines that cautioned against rejecting minority applicants who have committed a crime and recommended businesses eliminate policies that “exclude people from employment based on a criminal record.” The suits have re-ignited concerns over such issues as potential ...

16 Jun 2013 07:46

"This was the first Memorial Day [Monday, May 1st, 1865]. African Americans invented Memorial Day in Charleston, South Carolina. What you have there is Black Americans recently freed from slavery announcing to the world with their flowers, their feet, and their songs what the war had been about. Wha...

05 Jun 2013 13:20

* Today in Black History - June 05 * 1783 - Oliver Cromwell, an African American soldier who served in the Revolutionary War, receives an honorable discharge signed by George Washington. Cromwell, who will claim to have been with Washington when he crossed the Delaware and in the battles of Yorktown, Princeton, and Monmouth, is cited by Washington as having earned "the Badge of Merit for six years' faithful service." 1872 - The Republican National Convention meets in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The meeting marks the first significant participation of African American delegates: Robert B. Elliot (chair of the South Carolina delegation); Joseph Rainey, and John R. Lynch of Mississippi, who each make addresses to the convention. 1920 - Marion Motley is born in Leesburg, Georgia. He will become a NFL running back and all-time AAFC rusher for the Cleveland Browns, ending his career with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He will enter the NFL in 1946, making him one of only four African Americans to desegregate the NFL ...

27 May 2013 13:32

Happy Memorial Day! In the midst of the ruins in Charleston, South Carolina following the Civil War, freed African Americans built a cemetery for dead Union soldiers inside an old race track. On the day of its dedication, thousands of freed people and Union soldiers paraded around the race track. They sang songs, read scriptures and held picnics. This event marked the beginning of what we have come to know as Memorial Day.

26 May 2013 15:39

On this Memorial Day Weekend, our prayers go out to the families of all our military men and women who died in service to our country. Did you know that perhaps one of the first unofficial Memorial Day celebrations was organized by African Americans in Charleston, South Carolina in 1865? According to Wikipedia, following President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination in April 1865, the first well-known observance of a “Memorial Day-type observance” after the Civil War was in Charleston, South Carolina on May 1, 1865. During the war, Union soldiers who were prisoners of war had been held at the Charleston Race Course; at least 257 Union prisoners died there and were hastily buried in unmarked graves. Together with teachers and missionaries, black residents of Charleston organized a “May Day” ceremony in 1865, which was covered by the New York Tribune and other national papers. The freedmen cleaned up and landscaped the burial ground, building an enclosure and an arch labeled, "Martyrs of the Race C .. ...

14 May 2013 02:26

This monument was commissioned by the state of South Carolina. It depicts the history of African Americans from the 1619 Slave Auction Blocks in Charleston, to present day South Carolina. Its central feature is a map of the "Middle Passage'" where roughly forty percent of the slaves from Africa went...

26 Feb 2013 01:04

Black History Fact # 25 ( Organized Crime ) Ellsworth " Bumpy " Johnson ( 1906 - 1968 ) Oftentimes street crime, or petty crime is linked to African Americans as menaces to society even though ALL crimals get started the same way. But Organized Crime as " Mafia " or white collar crimes are considered more saavy, gutsy, planned, professional, intellectual, and the members are revered, even glorified in our society while others are considered " Menaces." I'm writing this because when Mr. Johnson lived during in this period of histoy, African Americans were still thought to be cowardly, scared, unable to lead, and too afraid of the white man to stand, fight back, or operate on his supposed level, you're about to read the truth about when people are pushed too far. Ellsworth " Bumpy "Johnson was originally from Charleston, South Carolina. During his formative years, his family moved north to Harlem. He was given the name “Bumpy” due to a large bump on his forehead. Known for his “flashy” style and dap ...

24 Feb 2013 23:26

Althea Gibson and Bob Ryland were some of the first Black tennis athletes to open the doors for future generations of black athletes. Tennis is about being competitive. Players such as Althea Gibson and Bob Ryland proved it with their bravery and their fight to have African Americans play a game that has been very much loved within the black community since the late 1800s. They paved the way for other black tennis players’ careers. Before Venus and Serena Williams were racking up Grand Slam titles, Gibson was blazing trails for many black tennis players to follow. Born in 1927 in Silver, Claredon County, South Carolina, Gibson began playing tennis in the 1940’s. Her family was on welfare and she was a client of the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to children. She played paddle tennis in the public recreational programs. Gibson’s talent and interest in the game led her to win tournaments sponsored by the Police Athletic Leagues and the parks department. Then she was offered an opportunity to deve . ...

22 Feb 2013 17:30

Higher Education Grants of Interest to African-Americans Filed in Grants and Gifts on February 15, 2013 Here is this week’s news of grants to historically Black colleges and universities or for programs of particular interest to African Americans in higher education. Historically Black Bennett College in Greensboro, North Carolina, received a $87,565 grant from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center to enhance the biotechnology, cell biology, and genetics programs at the college. Funds will be used for laboratory equipment, to fund laboratory research positions for students, and to sponsor development workshops for faculty in STEM fields. The grant program is under the director of Willietta Gibson, an assistant professor of biology at Bennett College. Dr. Gibson earned a Ph.D. in biomedical sciences from the Medical University of South Carolina. Winston-Salem State University, the historically Black educational institution in North Carolina, received a $140,000 grant from the Lettie Pate Whitehead Foun ...

18 Feb 2013 19:07

Our timeline continues as we outline the early days of building democracy for the African American people. 1851: Freedwoman Sojourner Truth, a compelling speaker for abolitionism, gives her famous "Ain't I a Woman" speech in Akron, Ohio. 1852:Harriet Beecher Stowe publishes her anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, which is an immediate bestseller and helps turn public opinion against the Fugitive Slave Act and slavery itself. 1857: In the Dred Scott case, the Supreme Court decides that African Americans are not citizens of the U.S., and that Congress has no power to restrict slavery in any federal territory. This meant that a slave who made it to a free state would still be considered a slave. 1861: The Civil War begins when the Confederates attack Fort Sumter, in Charleston, South Carolina. The war, fought over the issue of slavery, will rage for another four years. The Union's victory will mean the end of slavery in the U.S. 1863: President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation legally frees all ...

18 Feb 2013 12:02

Modjeska Monteith Simkins (1899 - 1992) Modjeska Monteith was born on 5th December, 1899. She attended Benedict College, South Carolina and after graduating in 1921 became a schoolteacher at the Booker T. Washington School in Columbia. When she married Andrew Simkins, a prosperous African American businessman, she was forced to resign as the local public school system did not allow married women to teach. In 1931 Simkins found employment with the South Carolina Tuberculosis Association as Director of *** Work. Her role was to raise funds and assist in health education among African Americans. Simkins established clinics for tuberculosis testing at churches, schools and cotton mills. She also published a newsletter and arranged for annual meetings with other African American leaders. Shocked by the poverty she witnessed, Simkins became more concerned with politics and joined the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP). The South Carolina Tuberculosis Association became conc ...

15 Feb 2013 15:22

100 Years Ago Today The Chinese minister of education opens the "Conference on Unification of Pronunciation". 44 delegates met in Beijing in the first ever attempt to standardize the Chinese language. Former Venezuelan President, Cipriano Castro, is allowed entry into the US only after a court rules in his favor in the matter. The British House of Lords rejects the bill disestablishing the Welsh church by a vote of 252-52. Mexican Emilio Vasquez Gomez, crosses from New Mexico into Palomas and declares himself new Mexican President. He plans to journey to the capital, Mexico City, to take office. President Taft approves the expulsion of cadet Elmer E Adler from West Point for the sin of having gotten married. A group of businessmen meet in Columbia, South Carolina to organize the establishment of the South Carolina Union Bank, which is to be for for African Americans. Already incorporated, it would be capitalized by selling 2,000 shares at ten dollars each.

14 Feb 2013 04:22

(1867) Rev. E. J. Adams, “These are Revolutionary Times” On March 2, 1867, Congress overrode President Andrew Johnson's vetoes and passed a series of Reconstruction acts which would, among other things, establish new governments in the ex-Confederate States based for the first time on universal male suffrage. The first step in this process involved the electing of white and black male delegates to conventions that would write new state constitutions establishing the legal basis for these governments. Sensing this unprecedented political opportunity, African Americans gathered in mass meetings throughout the South to support Congress’s action and to plan their own agenda. One of the earliest of these meetings took place in Charleston, South Carolina on March 19, 1867. At the conclusion of the meeting Rev. E. J. Adams, a leader of the Charleston black community gave the address below. in Charleston, called for the adoption of the report and delivered the address below. Fellow Citizens: These are revol ...

09 Feb 2013 13:40

Patriots Point TO HOST Black History Month SYMPOSIUM: JENKINS, JAZZ AND JAMMIN’ IN TIMES OF WAR AND PEACE In celebration of the contributions of African Americans throughout our nation’s history, Patriots Point’s Institute of History, Science and Technology invites the public to attend a special symposium entitled, “Jenkins, Jazz and Jammin’ in Times of War and Peace” on Friday, February 22 at 10 a.m. The program is free and open to the public and will be streamed live on the Patriots Point website (www.patriotspoint.org). This symposium, the fourth in the museum’s educational series “Ordinary People Doing Extraordinary Things,” will focus on the Jenkins Orphanage Band, which got its start in Charleston, South Carolina in the late 1800s. Band members broke racial boundaries – traveling and performing at distinguished events around the world, including Presidential Inauguration ceremonies. Guest speakers will include former educator, politician and professional musician Lonnie Hamilton, ...

30 Jan 2013 18:24

Random thought: Shout out to Governor Deval Patrick-he appointed his former African American chief of staff William "Mo" Cowan to senate appointment. Cowan is more than qualified to fill the position but Deval did so to "make history" as there have never, ever been two African Americans in the Senate EVER and there are many qualified people capable of serving. Interesting note: Both Senators (Mass and South Carolina) were appointed, not elected. So have we really grown as a country?

United States of America - Slavery request for reparation of slavery has developed in the United States of America since its abolition in 1865. In the same year, shortly after the Civil War and the defeat of the Confederate States, General William Tecumseh Sherman issued pitched Special Order Number 15 to work around the problem of the masses of freed slaves. Each family was given 40 acres of arable land and a mule which the army didn't need anymore. About 40,000 freed slaves were settled on 1600 square kilometers in Georgia and South Carolina. President Andrew Johnson, however, cancelled the order immediately after the assassination of Lincoln and the land was returned to large landowners. In 1867 deputy Thaddeus Stevens introduced a bill to redistribute land to African Americans, though it was not approved. Reconstruction ended in 1877 without that the problem of reparation was resolved and especially in southern states a movement to maintain and reinforce the apartheid that slavery had produced develop ...

06 Jan 2013 21:14

This is the 2nd installment of what an African American experiences living in New York City. I want to bring to you what is it to live in Bedford Stuyesant Brooklyn or as Brooklynites call it Bed-Stuy. Bed-Stuy is made up of 142,000 African Americans of many diverse backgrounds. Most are descendants or have ties to Virginia, North and South Carolina. You run into most and they will tell you I'm going down south. I used to hear that quite a bit when I was younger. Being from Texas I was not used to hearing that term because down south for us was Mexico. Bed-Stuy is bound by Bushwich to its north (mainly puerto ricans and Crown Heights to its south (mainly west indians and jews.) To its east, East New York another African American neighborhood. In total with the combined African American areas along with the west indian population of its neighboring area its the largest concentration of blacks in the country with over 900,000 residents. The area is made up of residential historical brownstones and Brooklyn ...

05 Jan 2013 05:20

Newark: A Recent History At the turn of the 19th century Newark was a city thriving in industry; indeed it was the major industrial city in the entire nation (Stellhorn, p.47). However, prosperity came at a cost to the majority of its citizens. The wealthiest segment of Newark’s community continued to dominate both politic and economy via the mayor’s office and the Chamber of Commerce. This was an alliance of wealth and privilege that focused most of Newark’s budget toward public works that favored business, such as a subway system, the widening of the Newark Bay, and the purchase of land for the Newark Museum. As the new century wore on, Newark began to witness a migration of African Americans from the South, specifically from South Carolina and Georgia. This migration was precipitated in part by European immigration to the US having halted as a result of the World War I; industrial speculators went south and encouraged the migration of African Americans north to the cities’ “munitio ...

01 Jan 2013 18:18

On New Year's Day 1863, African Americans at Beaufort, South Carolina, witnessed the moment when the Emancipation Proclamation became law. Col. Thomas Wentworth Higginson read the proclamation before the assembled crowd. He remembered "there suddenly arose ... a strong but rather cracked and elderly male voice, into which two women's voices immediately blended, 'My country 'tis of thee, Sweet land of Liberty' ... the quavering voices sang on, verse after verse; others around them joined; ... I never saw anything so electric; it made all other words cheap ... the life of the whole day was in those unknown people's song." More about these slave shackles:

17 Nov 2012 00:39

Slave Girl's Story Revealed Through Rare Records Nearly 250 years ago a 10-year-old African girl was kidnapped and transported to South Carolina, where she was renamed Priscilla and sold into slavery. Unlike the ancestors of many African Americans who were brought to North America as slaves, Priscilla left a paper trail that tells her story and connects her to her living descendants. Thomalind Martin Polite is Priscilla's seventh-generation granddaughter. At the invitation of the Sierra Leone government, the Charleston, South Carolina, speech therapist recently visited her ancestor's homeland. There, Polite met with other descendents of Priscilla during a celebration last week. "What makes Priscilla's Homecoming so special, and likely not to be repeated, is that Thomalind can trace her ancestry literally from the day the slave ship left Sierra Leone on April 9, 1756, to the present moment," said Joseph Opala, a historian at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. "We're dealing with a 249-year ...

04 Nov 2012 06:16

TheRoot.com,WashingtonPost on Campaign 2012 (HEHE! SMH!): Goldwater's anti-civil-rights stance earned him the support of Deep South states, making him the first Republican since Reconstruction to carry Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, Georgia and Louisiana. Operating with a well-earned inner sense of peril, African Americans voted overwhelmingly against Goldwater, helping to hand Johnson a landslide victory. A retreat on progress toward racial equality was averted. What would be the consequences for race of a Mitt Romney victory? A Romney takeover of the White House might well rival Andrew Johnson's ascendancy to the presidency after Abraham Lincoln's assassination in 1865 ... A Romney win would be worrisome, however, because of his strong embrace of states rights and his deep mistrust of the federal government — sentiments Andrew Johnson shared.

16 Oct 2012 22:35

Quick Lesson in History.. In the 1948 Democratic convention the historically Southern Democratic Party Adopted Civil Rights as its new plank for the upcoming election. Upset by the new direction the party was headed Southern Segragationsit vowed to leave the Party and Elect Strom Thurmond (of South Carolina) to Run on their behalf as the new Dixiecrat Party instead of Relecting then president Harry Truman. His chances of being relected look dismal HOWEVER with strong support from African Americans especially in places like Cleveland and Chicago he was able to pull off a narrow victory and remain the President of the United States. (History Repeats its Self) VOTE

16 Oct 2012 12:35

On this day in Black History: In 1868, B.F. Randolph was assassinated in South Carolina. Benjamin Franklin Randolph was born free in Kentucky in 1820. He attended school in Warren County, Ohio, then Oberlin College from 1857 to 1862. Randolph was ordained as a Methodist minister. In 1864 and became a chaplain of the 26th U.S. Colored Troops Regiment on Riker's Island, New York. His Regiment was quickly transferred to Hilton Head Island. After the war he remained in the state and worked for the American Missionary Association. Soon he was active in politics. He attended the Colored People's Convention in Charleston in 1865. He was employed as an assistant school superintendent for the Freedmen's Bureau and edited two black newspapers in Charleston. He was elected to represent Orangeburg County at the Constitutional Convention of 1868. He supported the right to vote for blacks, but would have denied the vote to people who were illiterate or who could not pay the poll tax. His fellow delegates, however, reje ...

14 Oct 2012 02:25

Tom Kinney This is the comment I sent to www.whitehouse.gov tonight. Mr. President you and Joe Biden continue to be out of touch with what is happening to the working class people that you say you are helping. You have failed with every one of your attempts to fix the economy and you keep telling people it things are getting better. I have a few examples of how things are not getting better in the Central Savannah River Area of Georgia and South Carolina. 1. The leading growth industries in the area are title pawn and pay day advance. These institutions specialize in high interest loans to people who are at the end of their financial rope. African Americans are the leading prospect for these services. As of last week there have been 13 of each of these offices open in North Augusta since your inauguration. 2. The second leading growth industry has been taxi cab companies. Their market has increased in proportion to the cars lost to the title pawn shops. 3. RAP Financial Services provides collateral recove ...

02 Oct 2012 07:50

The Gullah are African Americans who live in the Lowcountry region of South Carolina and Georgia, which includes both the coastal plain and the Sea Islands. Historically, the Gullah region extended from the Cape Fear area on the coast of North Carolina south to the vicinity of Jacksonville on the coast of Florida; but today the Gullah area is confined to the South Carolina and Georgia Lowcountry. The Gullah people and their language are also called Geechee, which some scholars speculate is related to the Ogeechee River near Savannah, Georgia. The term "Geechee" is an emic term used by speakers (and can have a derogatory connotation depending on usage). "Gullah" is a term that was originally used to designate the language spoken by Gullah and Geechee people, but over time it has become a way for speakers to formally identify both their language and themselves as a distinctive group of people. The Georgia communities further identify themselves as either "Saltwater Geechee" or "Freshwater Geechee" depending ...

25 Sep 2012 11:35

Deborah Rice-Marko votes in the South Carolina primary at an East Bay Street voting station on Jan. 21, 2012 in Charleston, S.C. (credit: Andrew Burton/Getty Images) WASHINGTON (AP) — South Carolina is in federal court arguing that its new law requiring people prove their identity at the polls won’t make voting so tough that it reduces turnout of African-Americans, Hispanics and other minorities. A federal panel is to determine whether South Carolina’s voter identification law violates the Voting Rights Act by putting heavy burdens on minorities who don’t have the identification. Last December, the Justice Department refused to allow South Carolina to require the photo IDs, saying doing so would reverse the voting gains of the states’ minorities. Closing arguments in the case — which went to trial in August and included several state officials as witnesses — were scheduled for Monday. South Carolina has said it would implement the law immediately if the three-judge panel upholds it, although ...

22 Sep 2012 14:11

Today In Black History • September 22, 1853 George Washington Murray, former Congressman and inventor, was born enslaved in Sumter County, South Carolina. After being freed, Murray attended the University of South Carolina for two years and taught school for 15 years. He served as chairman of the Sumter County Republican Party and was known as the “Republican Black Eagle.” From 1890 to 1892, Murray served as inspector of customs at the Port of Charleston. In 1893, he was elected to the United StatesHouse Of Representatives where he served from 1893 to 1895 and 1896 to 1897. During his time in Congress, Murray fought for black rights, speaking in favor of retaining Reconstruction Period laws, and highlighted African American achievement by reading into the congressional record a list of 92 patents granted to African Americans. Murray was the last black Republican to serve in Congress from South Carolina until 2010. Murray also received a number of patents, including on June 5, 1894 patent number 520 ...

18 Sep 2012 22:54

When the American Civil War began, Tubman worked for the Union Army, first as a cook and nurse, and then as an armed scout and spy. The first woman to lead an armed expedition in the war, she guided the Combahee River Raid, which liberated more than 700 slaves in South Carolina. After the war, she retired to the family home in Auburn, New York, where she cared for her aging parents. She became active in the women's suffrage movement in New York until illness overtook her. Near the end of her life, she lived in a home for elderly African Americans that she had helped found years earlier.

28 Aug 2012 04:11

With the exception of Civil War reenactors, at least up North where I live. Reenacting works on many levels, but the highest is to honor the brave men who fought on BOTH sides for what they thought was right. In the Confederate Army there were blacks who fought alongside their white couterparts and for the same reasons, defending their homeland. In the North, blacks were segregated until after WWII. And I know several African Americans who reenact as Confederates. And reenacting wouldn't be much of ashow without BOTH sides. That is not to say there are not those who do harbor the old feelings of racism. Some are state officials and have even threatened another Civil War. And Romney is pandering to that segment of the white population cause he KNOWS he doesn't have the Latino nad the African-American vote.

23 Aug 2012 12:29

Columbia, SC - The precise number of African people transported to North America as part of the slave trade is unknown. Once sold, these men, women and children ended up living and dying in obscurity. It is rare to be able to pick out the thread of one slave’s life from this human tapestry and follow it down through history to the present day, even more unusual when that slave is a child. In 1756, Priscilla, a ten year old girl from Sierra Leone was sold at auction to Elias Ball, a wealthy rice planter in South Carolina. Beginning in February, the story of her life and the family tree she founded will be the subject of a new exhibit, Finding Priscilla’s Children, at the South Carolina State Museum. Priscilla’s story is told through a document trail that goes back 256 years beginning with her trip from Sierra Leone on the Rhode Island slave ship Hare and tracing her life on the Ball plantation. Dying in slavery at age sixty-five, she was survived by her ten children. While researching his own family ...

15 Aug 2012 03:32

Born a slave in 1850s South Carolina and elected to Congress in the 1890s, George W. Murray appeared to be the antithesis of the African American male in the Jim Crow South and served as a beacon for African Americans who saw their hopes crushed in the aftermath of the Civil War. Early in the twe...

12 Aug 2012 18:35

The Republic of New Afrika (RNA), was a social movement that proposed three objectives. First, the creation of an independent African-American-majority country situated in the southeastern United States. A similar claim is made for all the black-majority counties and cities throughout the United States. Second, the payment of several billion dollars in reparations from the US government for the damages inflicted on Africans and their descendants by chattel enslavement, Jim Crow segregation, and persistent modern-day forms of racism. Third, a referendum of all African Americans in order to decide what should be done with regard to their citizenship. Regarding the latter, it was claimed that African Americans were not given a choice in this matter after emancipation. The vision for this country was first promulgated on March 31, 1968, at a Black Government Conference held in Detroit, Michigan. Its proponents lay claim to five Southern states: (Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina); a ...

31 Jul 2012 22:12

Did Congressman Hansen Clarke just realize that there were literacy issues in Detroit, amongst African Americans and Latinos? I worked on literacy issues as a State Rep along with the Governor, a columnist for the Free Press and the National Black Caucus of State Legislators. His sudden revelation has prompted him to seek support from a black tea party republican Congressman Tim Scott of South Carolina who wants to impeach President Obama. Thank you Hansen Clarke for That One. dunno

18 Jul 2012 18:57

African Americans have served our country throughout history. From the forts of Bunker Hill in South Carolina to the mountains of Afghanistan they've fought for our country but also for their rights. Watch this short documentary that depicts their road to receive fair and equal treatment in the mili...

13 Jun 2012 04:16

States like Texas and South Carolina have blamed the federal government for imposing on their state’s sovereignty, but President Lyndon B. Johnson, emboldened by the heroic efforts of African Americans who marched, bled and died for voting rights, had an answer for that.

27 May 2012 03:02

Back home, from my grand daughter's graduation from High School in Charleston. South Carolina..at the Coliseum. There were 430 graduates and approximately 2200 people in attendance..It struck me how much the population has grown, just since my daughters graduated in the early 80's..But even more startling was the diversity. There were Caucasians, African Americans, Asians, Muslims, Indian Americans, Air Force kids from all over the country and Mexicans..My grand children are and have been a part of that community, for years, yet, never identified their friends as anything other than "the kids at school".. As we listened to the Valedictorian, Class President, etc. A theme emerged based on Ghandi's "Be the change, you seek.." We are now a part of something bigger, than ourselves, " It is our time, to live." I loved the speeches..It was a hopeful theme, it was a grand night. Now, that these wonderful youngsters are going out into the world, it is, we, who should learn from them. They are already part of ...

25 May 2012 17:40

I know all of you will not read this but if some of you do it may enlighten you about the Democratic Party you hold in such high reguard. IN 1898, Democrats in North Carolina campaigned to regain control of the legislature from the Republican Party, with which most African Americans were aligned, many holding office. Calling for an end to the “corruption and arrogance of the Republican *** rule,” Furnifold M. Simmons, North CarolinaDemocratic Party chairman, wrote a letter on July 27, 1898 urging whites to band together to support “White Supremacy.” Over one hundred thousand copies of this letter were printed and distributed around the state, with newspapers contributing to the proliferation of the message through heavy publicity. As November 8, Election Day, approached, Democrats sent Red Shirts, bands of armed men wearing bright red shirts, to intimidate black voters. These bands had flourished in South Carolina until 1877, when they departed after federal troops were withdrawn from the state . ...

28 Apr 2012 18:40

African-American people in Greenville County filed a petion because of the redistricting in South Carolina recenly causing lines to be split and could have an impact that some African- Americans will not have a voice for them. Well look at House Bill 815 on June 21, 2011 my State Represenative was not even present for the vote on this crucial bill that back fired and now hurt the community. Where was my State Rep?

25 Apr 2012 12:17

Date: Sat, 1942-04-25 Rubye Smith was born on this date in 1942. She was an African-American Civil Rights activist. From Atlanta, Georgia, Rubye Doris Smith had little direct contact with whites while she was growing up. At the age of 13, she watched television coverage of the bus system boycott in Montgomery, Alabama. The sight of large numbers of African Americans refusing to submit to racist policies made a strong impression. When Smith entered Spelman College in 1959, she soon became involved in nonviolent demonstrations to integrate Atlanta, being one of the first participants in Atlanta's lunch counter sit-ins. In 1961 she joined the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). While protesting student arrests in Rock Hill, South Carolina, Smith was arrested and, in accordance with SNCC's "jail no bail" strategy, served a 30-day jail sentence. Following her release, she risked mob violence by joining the Freedom Riders in their mission to revoke state laws that mandated segregation on interstat ...